I’m a member of a loose group of black conservatives called Project 21. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was looking for an assistant (I can’t remember the title of the position) in the history programming department. I’d written a number of history-related op-eds, so someone at Project 21 passed along my name. I was contacted by a consultant working for PBS in New York City, and he was in D.C. doing interviews for the position. He was a liberal and very intrigued that I was a conservative. But he was nice!
We met in a coffee shop for an informal interview, then walked a few blocks to the PBS office in D.C. for another informal interview with the hiring decision-maker. Along with my resume, I brought copies of two history-related op-eds published in major newspapers.
The second interviewer was also nice but clearly wasn’t going to hire an outspoken black conservative Christian. I knew this going in, so I felt free to be honest. I never relished the thought of working for public television, but I figured it was high time these people at least met someone like me. It wasn’t my intent to shock anyone, but that’s exactly what happened.
As I sat there talking, it dawned on me that we were spending more time discussing my views than the job or my qualifications. I wasn’t going to get the job, but I likened myself to a ground-breaking pioneer, opening the door for others who’d follow in my footsteps with a mission to bring balance and a different viewpoint to PBS.
Lofty, isn’t it? 
I talked about my writing and when I became a conservative. I told them how excited I was about the opportunity to join PBS, and what I lacked in television production experience I’d make up in enthusiasm and discipline. At some point in the interview a sensitive subject came up. I saw one of the men hesitate to speak. I said, “You don’t have to be politically correct with me. Just say what you need to say.” Nervous laughter. I loved it!
As the interview came to a close, I delivered my big speech. I looked the man doing the hiring right in the eyes and said that PBS, the recipient of taxpayer funds, had an obligation to hire people who represented a wide range of views. If they were truly interested in diversity, they would look beyond mere skin color to diversity of ideology (and a few other points I can’t recall). The room fell silent for several seconds. As far as I remember, there was a “Thank you for coming in,” or something like that. That’s the PBS Incident!
I’ll be honest. In my assessment, I didn’t get the job because I have no television experience, which was a major requirement. Still, even if I had the experience, they probably wouldn’t have hired me after that speech.
I felt really good walking out of there. I expected no telephone call from PBS, but it was great just having my say…
This is my piece on Aaron the Liberal Slayer’s Blogopoly board. Check out his latest Blogopoly pieces. He writes:
With the pressure off, I guess my creative muse returned and I’ve developed another couple dozen Blogopoly pieces, and I’ll be releasing them over the next few days. Do you deserve Blogopolization? How can you POSSIBLY play Blogopoly without your own custom piece?
Aaron told me that red is for Bush, the steeple is for my faith, the barber pole…that’s obvious, and the hotel design is “the ultimate accomodation.”
The Commissar at Politburo Diktat created a map called Empire of the Blogs. I’m represented by the gold-colored country called “Barberia.” When I first found Politburo Diktat several months ago, I didn’t “get” it. Now that I do, it’s quite funny, especially the show trials. About the map, the Commissar writes:
In the pre-Marxist era, corrupt aristocrats, bloodsuckers of the people, dominated Central Europe. Not content to oppress the people individually, they joined together, to form a Blogging Empire.
Here it is comrades — The Empire of the Blogs
Here is map of Empire of the Blogs based on great Russian geographer Kutznutsov’ original manuscript. As always, it is clickable map, bringing the visitor right to the blogs noted.
I don’t know how these guys find time to do this stuff, but I like it. 
by La Shawn on November 30, 2004
in Justice
American Thinker readers, welcome to the blog!
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A Hmong hunter committed a hate crime on November 21 when he slaughtered six white people. Based on the facts I’ve seen, he had a problem with white deer hunters. Whatever sentence he gets, they should tack on two more years because of his thoughts about white people. Not only did this man show disregard for human life; he did so with racial hatred in his heart/head. How appalling!
I’m being facetious, of course. If you don’t know what I think of “hate crime” you should read this post. The very idea of a “thought crime” is the dumbest thing since the dinosaur-like NAACP’s so-called report on the return of Jim Crow at the voting booths (for which they should be embarrassed). But for the sake of consistency, I’ll play along.
I’m confused, however. Where is the ACLU and all the homosexual organizations that so vehemently (and loudly) denounce hate crimes when committed against “people of color” or other homosexuals? It’s like a ghost town around here.
The facts: Chai Vang, a Hmong immigrant (who’s actually an American) is accused of shooting eight people and killing six of them. He claims he shot the white people because they called him bad names and fired a shot at him, but the two survivors of the slaughter said Vang shot first. And get this: four of the people he murdered were shot in the back. One was shot four times in the back. Vang was trespassing, hunting on someone else’s property, and he’d been warned before by these same hunters. Vang also has a history of trespassing on private property and getting into “confrontations” with other hunters.
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Now that bloggers are reporting news and fact-checking the biased media, liberals in newsrooms no longer control the flow of information or how it’s reported. I predict a similar change will occur in leftist academia. George Will offers an update on liberal domination of colleges and universities:
One study of 1,000 professors finds that Democrats outnumber Republicans at least seven to one in the humanities and social sciences. That imbalance, more than double what it was three decades ago, is intensifying because younger professors are more uniformly liberal than the older cohort that is retiring.
Another study, of voter registrations records, including those of professors in engineering and the hard sciences, found nine Democrats for every Republican at Berkeley and Stanford. Among younger professors, there were 183 Democrats, six Republicans.
So why the disparity? Is there a hiring bias?
But George Lakoff, a linguistics professor at Berkeley, denies that academic institutions are biased against conservatives. The disparity in hiring, he explains, occurs because conservatives are not as interested as liberals in academic careers. Why does he think liberals are like that? “Unlike conservatives, they believe in working for the public good and social justice.” That clears that up.
A few months ago I read a study on leftists in media, and a liberal journalist said that Democrats dominated the media because conservatives tend not to pursue low-paying journalism jobs. You buy that? Remind me to tell you about the job interview I had with PBS.
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Ever heard of the National Council of La Raza? If so, you may know La Raza literally means “The Race.” No, it has nothing to do with the 100-yard dash. It refers to race, the subject we can’t stop talking about.
La Raza and its supporters try to downplay the racial element, claiming that the proper translation is “The People.” Which people? Hispanic people. In other words, the Hispanic “race.” The word games we play with each other…
George Bush’s nominee for Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, the person who’d be in charge of enforcing federal law, is a card-carrying member of a group that wants to stop enforcement of United States immigration law.
La Raza touts itself as a “Hispanic think tank” concerned with poverty and discrimination. Among other things, they want to strip law enforcement of the ability to protect our country against terrorists so that “Latinos” here illegally won’t be deported. Arabs are crossing our borders along with Mexicans, but La Raza wants the borders to remain “open.”
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A few months ago I was treated to an amusing assault by a few errant white liberals emboldened by a black liberal blogger. Funny how that happens (and so predictably human). Until they see black liberals castigating conservatives like myself, they wouldn’t dare say or write some of the junk I’ve read and heard (Also see Conservative Cool).
People who claim to be “for” black folks can be viciously condescending toward them. Perhaps black liberals don’t notice, but it’s crystal clear to me. Reading what’s written about other black conservatives was more than enough to convince me that liberals don’t really care about us, but being the target of their just-below-the-surface racist attitudes drove it in like a drill.
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by La Shawn on November 24, 2004
in Faith
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4: 4-7)
The plane ride to South Carolina was a little bumpy yesterday evening, but I wasn’t worried. I knew that if I didn’t make it to see my family, I’d see my Lord and Savior. You may ask, “How can you be so sure?” The Bible tells us how we can know we have eternal life in many passages, but I direct you to the entire book of 1 John.
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by La Shawn on November 24, 2004
in Bloggers
Don’t forget to nominate your favorite blogs for one of the weblog awards (See previous post). Nominations close on November 28, 2004, and voting for finalists in each category begins December 1, 2004. Categories (33) include Best Overall Blog, Best New Blog (Established 2004), Best Group Blog, Best Humor Blog, Best Liberal Blog, Best Conservative Blog, Best Election Coverage, Best Media/Journalist Blog, and many more.
Although I’d love to win an award, other nominees (who run excellent blogs) are much more deserving. But to those who’ve nominated me, I thank you! 
by La Shawn on November 23, 2004
in Liberals
I didn’t say it. I don’t care what Democrats do. But Morton Kondracke has some advice for Dems in his latest column. He says that you liberals need to face reality, stop demonizing George Bush and start paying attention to people like me!
Or something like that.
Right after the election, everywhere I went in D.C., I’d hear white yuppie liberals ranting about “fascist judges” and “self-righteous” Republicans and “holy rollers.” They weren’t self-conscious around me because they assumed I was one of them. You know…the skin color thing.
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by La Shawn on November 23, 2004
in Bloggers
In September I had the pleasure of meeting Ambra Nykol and Avery Tooley, fellow Conservative Brotherhood members. I blogged about it, of course (photos included). Ambra is returning to DC at the end of December, and the three of us are trying to organize a DC-area blogger meet-up.
On the assumption that many already have New Year’s Eve plans on Friday the 31th (and Ambra’s going back to the left coast on that day), I’m thinking Thursday might work. By the way, Ambra is featured in a Seattle magazine. Cool stuff.
If you’re a DC-area blogger, contact me if you’d like to get together with us. If you know any DC-area bloggers, pass it along. Also, if you’ve been to a blogger meet-up before and have a few ideas about how to do it right, drop me a line.
I’ll see my fellow TCB pals regardless, so let us know if you want to see us, too!
I’m relatively savvy when it comes to gadgets. I like PDAs. I used to have a Palm Pilot m105, a Compaq iPAQ, and now I have a Treo Smartphone. Wireless technology is too cool for words.
When it comes to my desktop, however, I’ve less savvy and adventurous. I’m the type who’s always afraid if I hit the wrong button, I’ll break the whole system. That’s why it took me so long to try Mozilla Firefox. The hidden security dangers of Internet Explorer (IE) were just that: hidden. As long as I didn’t see worms or other nefarious programs invading my system, I was OK.
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Today is the forty-first anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s murder. It seems like only a few months ago that I was watching back-to-back specials on PBS, A&E, the History Channel and network TV on the murder of JFK during the weekend of November 22, 2003. I don’t mean to use a cliche, but time really does…never mind.
Last night while watching a rerun of a JFK-assassination special hosted by Peter Jennings, I didn’t realize a year had passed. The show was about how the murder was purportedly committed by Lee Harvey Oswald, and only Lee Harvey Oswald. Poppycock.
You know what convinces me more than anything else that something fishy was going on? The fact that Oswald, a former U.S. Marine, defected to the Soviet Union, was lent money by the U.S. government to return with his Russian wife, for crying out loud, and wasn’t immediately arrested and/or thrown in prison. People were blacklisted in those days for suspected Communist leanings. Am I really supposed to believe Oswald was acting alone and wasn’t a spy? Come on! His records are still classified, so we’ll never know what he really did while in Russia.
Back in August I revealed my conspiracy theory leanings and fondness for the movie “JFK.” I watched that last night, too, and I still didn’t remember the anniversary.
Also see Wikipedia’s entry on Oswald.
I just realized I’m more interested in Kennedy’s death than his life. Maybe other bloggers have written retrospectives. If you know of any, let me know.
Update: Have you heard about the JFK assassination video game?
When did America’s decline begin? Surely long before child killing was made legal, right? Still, I wonder. When we devalue the life of the unborn, referring to life inside the mother as “fetus” or “clump of cells or tissue”, where do we draw the line? Some believe a baby isn’t worthy of protection until viable outside the womb. But given the wonders of neonatal technology, babies can survive much earlier than previously thought. Here’s some good news for pro-life advocates:
Congress made it a little easier for hospitals, insurers and others to refuse to provide or cover abortions. A provision in a $388 billion spending bill passed by the House and Senate on Saturday would block any of the measure’s money from going to federal, state or local agencies that act against health care providers and insurers because they don’t provide abortions, make abortion referrals or cover them.
“This policy simply states that health care entities should not be forced to provide elective abortions, a practice to which a majority of health care providers object and which they will not perform as a matter of conscience,” said Rep. David Weldon, R-Fla., a doctor who sponsored the language. (Source)
Republicans are trying to make sure that doctors who don’t want to be child killers (remember the Hippocratic oath?) won’t be hassled and pressured by the government. This is what a Republican Congress is for! Forget about the mid-term elections and do what needs to be done now.
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by La Shawn on November 20, 2004
in Bloggers
If you’re reading this post, you’re a blog reader. Here’s your chance to show appreciation for hard-working bloggers. Wizbang is calling for Weblog Award nominations for 2004. Nominations close on November 28, 2004, and voting for finalists in each category begins December 1, 2004.
Categories (33) include Best Overall Blog, Best New Blog (Established 2004), Best Group Blog, Best Humor Blog, Best Liberal Blog, Best Conservative Blog, Best Election Coverage, Best Media/Journalist Blog, and many more.
If you’re a big fan of blogs and would like to see your favorites contending for “best” this or “best” that, go on over and put in your nominations!
Unrelated Addendum: Check out Bush’s numbers in the Ohio provisional votes count.
Update (11/21): Polipundit says: “And, as I’ve noted, the red states are getting much redder, making it difficult for Senate Democrats to get elected in red states.”
Let’s hope it bodes well for Republicans in the mid-term elections.
Editors at the Washington Post (reg. req.) are clueless about why circulation is down. Did they come up with a plan to eradicate or at least control their leftist bias? No. That would be too easy. Instead, they settled on these:
1) Dumb it down:
In an effort to win new readers, Downie said Post reporters will be required to write shorter stories. The paper’s design and copy editors will be given more authority to make room for more photographs and graphics.
Great. Liberal bias with big pictures and small stories.
2) More skin-color diversity:
Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. met with hundreds of newsroom staffers yesterday to outline management’s latest attempts to combat declining circulation. However, the more intense discussion at the meeting involved diversity at the newspaper, as several minority staff members lamented that a white man recently was chosen over a woman and a black man as the paper’s new managing editor. [My emphasis
If Philip Bennett is more qualified, shouldn't he get the job? Are the blacks and women asserting he isn't? If so, it's a different story, but we all know that's not what's bothering them. Bennett is a white male. Whether he's the most qualified or not, his very presence (and skin color) makes him suspect.
In response to the whining, Downie was forced to give facts but couldn't resist seasoning them with politically correct mumbo jumbo: "[O]f the paper’s 30 to 40 top editors, ‘white males are in the minority.’ But he [Downie] said the paper needs to hire more minorities and to improve its coverage of the area’s increasingly diverse population.”
Can you guess which is fact and which is politically correct mumbo jumbo?
